Guitar quartet Seasons performs Friday at Berkeley’s Jazzschool Most guitar quartets are highly rehearsed ensembles devoted to a repertoire of intricately arranged material. Seasons is something very different. Balancing searching improvisation with exquisite through-composed passages, the ensemble brings together four brilliant, versatile, and accomplished composers and bandleaders with Anthony Wilson and Larry Koonse from Los […]
Berkeley JazzSchool
Posted inArts
Kai Eckhardt’s zeitgeist: Berkeley bassist plays home
Kai Eckhardt plays Berkeley’s Jazzschool on Friday Kai Eckhardt is recognized internationally as one of jazz’s most prodigious electric bassists, but few people know the extraordinary sojourn that brought him to Berkeley. He was born in the Rhineland to a Liberian father and West German mother who settled in Monrovia after fleeing her homeland as […]
Posted inArts
The Black Mountain Boys, sans Jerry Garcia, ride again
On Friday, guitarist Eric Thompson will play with the first Black Mountain Boys gig in some 50 years, as part of Ashkenaz’s 40th birthday celebrations. Photo: Irene Young On Friday, guitarist Eric Thompson will play with the first Black Mountain Boys gig in some 50 years, as part of Ashkenaz’s 40th birthday celebrations. Photo: Irene […]
Posted inArts
The Face of the Bass: Denson, Zilber and Friends
Bass player Jeff Denson plays Sunday afternoon at Berkeley’s Jazzschool with saxophonist Mike Zilber Bass player Jeff Denson plays Sunday afternoon at Berkeley’s Jazzschool with saxophonist Mike Zilber Good bass players are rarely in want of work, but since arriving in the Bay Area two years ago to teach at the Jazzschool Institute, Jeff Denson […]
Posted inArts
Kim Nalley: Masterly singer has focus on jazz’s roots
Nalley has created a scholarship aimed at reversing the lack of young black musicians engaged in the historically African-American art form of jazz Discussions about race and jazz can get heated pretty quickly, like the recent row over New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton’s campaign to rechristen jazz as Black American Music (BAM). A few years […]
Posted inArts
Andrea Wolper: Musical explorer with audience in mind
Andrea Wolper: the jazz vocalist plays Berkeley’s Jazzschool on Saturday. Photo: Michael Keel Andrea Wolper: the jazz vocalist plays Berkeley’s Jazzschool on Saturday. Photo: Michael Keel Whether she’s caressing an American Songbook standard, reinterpreting a contemporary pop tune, introducing a poetic original, or launching into a high-wire free improvisation, Andrea Wolper is a musical explorer […]
Posted inArts
Erik and Erika: Berkeley High returnees are home to play
Trumpeter Erik Jekabson plays the Freight & Salvage on Tuesday The Berkeley High jazz program is the gift that keeps on giving. Hardly a year goes by without at least a handful of excellent young musicians emerging from its ranks, and, while many head east to attend elite conservatories and music schools, Berkeley’s oversized gravitational […]
Posted inArts
Noam Lemish: Swinging in Shangri-La
When living in Bhutan, Noam Lemish was asked to compose a piece for the celebration of the king’s 30th birthday. Photo: George B. Wells When living in Bhutan, Noam Lemish was asked to compose a piece for the celebration of the king’s 30th birthday. Photo: George B. Wells Noam Lemish had been in Bhutan for a few […]
Posted inArts
It takes three to tango: Trio Garufa play Berkeley Friday
Guillermo Garcia (right) and his ensemble Trio Garufa celebrate the release of “El Rumor de tus Tangos” Friday at Ashkenaz. Photo: Esteban Silva When Guillermo Garcia moved to the Bay Area in the mid-90s, he was an accomplished tango guitarist whose career path had left little time for performing. Born and raised in Argentina and […]
Posted inArts
Berkeley sings, Jazzschool is hub that makes it happen
Saturday marks the Northern California debut of singer/songwriter and guitarist Becca Stevens The word is out on the musicians’ grapevine. When it comes to vocals, the Jazzschool has become an invaluable forum for transmitting the tradition and presenting many of the most creative singers on the scene. This weekend’s programming makes the case, with two […]
Posted inArts
Out in Berkeley: First annual Women in Jazz Festival
Ellen Seeling: co-founder of the Montclair Women's Big Band Trumpeter Ellen Seeling and saxophonist Jean Fineberg have never been the types to sit around and moan about injustice. When they got frustrated by the dearth of opportunities for women in Bay Area jazz orchestras, they went ahead and launched their own rip-roaring combo, the Montclair […]
Posted inArts
At Berkeley Jazzschool: first Annual Eddie Marshall Tribute
Eddie Marshall Quintet: L to R: Jeff Chambers, Mark Levine, Kenny Brooks, Eddie Marshall, and Peck Allmond Just about every city has a first-call jazz drummer, the player that heavyweight out-of-towners hire when they’re traveling without their own rhythm section. From 1968 until his death last September at 73, Eddie Marshall was the cat who got the […]